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Stickney: Balance plays a big role in putting

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If you say the word “balance,” the first thing golfers think of is their full swing — their driver to be more specific.

But there’s one club that trumps ALL others when it comes to the balance — your putter. Why? Because there’s only two options in putting; make or miss. If you don’t successfully hit the ball solid, you have little chance of making the putt because you won’t hit the ball the speed you intended.

As we know, putting involves the correlation between line and speed, and if you hit the ball the incorrect speed you’ll have trouble holding your line. But how can we make sure we control our speed better outside of practice? Work on hitting the ball solid by controlling your balance, and if you control your balance, you will tend to hit the center of the blade, meaning better speed control.

There are three ways to think of balance:

  • Side-to-side
  • Front-to-back
  • Up-and-down

For putting, most people only focus on their side-to-side balance points, but I always start by checking the players’ front-to-back balance. It heavily influences where the ball is hit on the blade (toe, heel or center), which greatly influences speed control. 

Let me show you an example of a player I had on the Sam Puttlab. He was moving from his toes to his heels during his stroke. 

Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 12.15.45 PM

As you can see, this player’s stroke has a very consistent arc shape, but the impact points are consistently on the toe side of the putter, which causes a loss of energy through impact. 

The arc lines show the putter consistently went back on an inside path, and came through on an inside path — what we call “inside-to-inside.” It also shows me that the club head was inside the dotted line at the ball, thus the impact point was on the toe area of the putter.

When examining this on video I saw this type of motion:

Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 12.15.58 PM

Address

Here you can see the head is where it started at address through the top of the backswing, which is great.

Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 12.16.11 PM

Transition.

Here is where the problem starts. From the transition through the impact zone, the golfer’s head backed up toward his heels, thus moving his center of gravity (CG) back as well. When his head shifted his body stood up, producing impact on the toe. That’s the reason why this player tended to hit the ball off the toe. It was NOT a stroke issue, but a balance issue.

There are two feels to help fix your balance if your CG is moving during the stroke:

  1. Hit putts with your eyes closed. This will help the balance centers in your ears allow you to feel if you are moving or not. Start with short putts and work yourself up to 25-footers using this drill and you’ll become more stable.
  2. Focus on the distribution of your weight from toe-to-heel during practice strokes so you can gain a feeling of what “balanced” is. If you spend time on a force plate, such as Swing Catalyst, it will show you more specifically what happens during your stroke, as well.

Screen Shot 2015-03-30 at 12.16.30 PM

If you consistently mishit your putts, or struggle with speed control, make sure it’s not your balance that’s going astray during the stroke. Just because it’s a shorter swing doesn’t mean balance doesn’t matter!

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Tom F. Stickney II, is a specialist in Biomechanics for Golf, Physiology, and 3d Motion Analysis. He has a degree in Exercise and Fitness and has been a Director of Instruction for almost 30 years at resorts and clubs such as- The Four Seasons Punta Mita, BIGHORN Golf Club, The Club at Cordillera, The Promontory Club, and the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. His past and present instructional awards include the following: Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Golf Digest Top 50 International Instructor, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor, Best in State (Florida, Colorado, and California,) Top 20 Teachers Under 40, Best Young Teachers and many more. Tom is a Trackman University Master/Partner, a distinction held by less than 25 people in the world. Tom is TPI Certified- Level 1, Golf Level 2, Level 2- Power, and Level 2- Fitness and believes that you cannot reach your maximum potential as a player with out some focus on your physiology. You can reach him at [email protected] and he welcomes any questions you may have.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Andy

    Apr 16, 2015 at 10:17 am

    Yes Sir, when issues arise not getting the putt to roll where I want it to, I close my eyes as advised. It works every time. Now onto knowing where to roll the rock and I found that at ebay search of Surveying Putter.

  2. Jay

    Apr 16, 2015 at 9:24 am

    Wow – wish I had read this several years ago – THANKS!!

  3. Adam

    Apr 14, 2015 at 1:16 am

    Tom,

    What drill would you recommend for someone whose head moves backwards (away from the target) after impact?

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Instruction

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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How a towel can fix your golf swing

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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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Instruction

Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks

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You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!

 

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